Improvement in machinery for threading buttons



w. F. BRENENSTUHL.

kfiaci'sinery for Threading Buttons.

Patented March 24,1874.

UNITED STATES WILLIAM F. BRENENSTUHL, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

lMPROVEMENT IN MACHINERY FOR THREADING BUTTONS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 148,805, dated March 24, 1874; application filed February 2, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM F. BRENEN- STUHL, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a Machine for Threading Buttons, &c., of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanyin g drawings making part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of my machine for threading buttons. Fig. 2 is a 1ongitudinal vertical section through the center of the same.

here strings for spinning-tops are to be provided with buttons, button-molds, 850., it has heretofore been customary to thread each button by hand, and when the size of the string is about the same as the diameter of the eye of the button, (as should be the case,) it is a difficult and tedious operation, as the end of the string requires to be carefully pointed, to enable it to be entered and drawn through; and when large numbers of strings are to be so threaded, much time is unnecessarily consumed. J

To facilitate the operation of threading the buttons, &c., is the object of my invention; which consists in a machine provided with a hooked needle, operated by a treadle, crank,

or other suitable mechanism, the button being placed over the hooked needle, and the string being caught thereby and drawn through the button, after which the knot is formed to hold it in place.

To enable others skilled in the art to understand and use my invention, I will proceed to describe the manner in which I have carried it out.

In the said drawings, A represents a table, supported on legs a. B is an arm, pivoted to the under side of the table, and having attached to its outer end a straight needle, I), which extends up vertically through an opening, 0, in the table, and is provided at its upper end with a hook, 5. The arm B is held up so as to retain the needle in the position seen in Fig. 1, by a spiral spring, (1, against the resistance of which it is drawn down (for a purpose to be presently explained) by a treadle, O, with which it is connected by a rod, D.

A number of pieces, 6, of cord of the required length to be used for top-strings having been stretched out upon one side of the table, between guide-pins h, and a weight laid thereon (if desired) to keep them in place, a button from a pile on the other side of the table is taken up and placed over the hooked needle, which extends up through its eye; one end of one of the pieces of cord is drawn forward and passed around in front of a guide-pin, 1', and brought under the hook 5, so as to be caught thereby as the needle is drawn down by the depression of the treadle, simultaneously with which the bight of the cord is pulled down through the eye of the button, after which the button is removed from its seat over the opening 0, and thrown to the back side of the table, where the operation of forming the knot can be readily performed, when a sufficient number of buttons have been threaded, as described.

It is evident that the hooked needle may be operated by mechanism other than that shownfor instance, by a crankwithout departing from the spirit of my invention.

By the employment of the within-described machine, the operation of threading buttons, button-molds, or blanks, of any material having holes through them, and for any purpose, can be performed with much greater ease and rapidity than by hand, as heretofore, thus effecting a great saving in time and labor.

\Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A machine for threading buttons, buttonmolds, &c., consisting of the table A with its opening 0, in combination with the reciprocating needle 1), arm B, treadle 0, rod D, and

spring (1, substantially as described.

WM. F. BBENENSTUHL. In presence of- N. W. STEARNs, W. J. CAMBRIDGE. 

